


There's Something About Howard Potts

by thiefless



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, POV Howard Stark, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 19:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21276221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefless/pseuds/thiefless
Summary: Howard Stark is a pretty smart guy – smart enough to notice that his one and only son, Tony, bears a striking resemblance to Howard Potts.





	There's Something About Howard Potts

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little idea that wouldn't leave me alone. After seeing the movie for the millionth time, I wondered whether Howard would look at his son Tony and think 'why does he look like that guy I met once in the 70s'. Thus, this fic was born. 
> 
> Hope you guys all like it. All mistakes are my own.

In accordance with popular belief: Howard Stark is a particularly observant guy. Has to be, to be able to develop world-saving equipment and invent weapons of mass destruction – all to further his vision.

Which is why he doesn't fail to notice that sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, when he isn't paying attention after a long, hard day at work – his son looks a lot like Howard Potts.

Other times, the longer Howard looks at his son, the more he is reminded of his own younger, irresponsible self. A faint taste of bile accompanies those thoughts – Howard has never forgotten what he said to Potts ("_A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me._"), and the fact remains as true today as the day he said it. With every callous word, and every cool exchange, he is reminded of their shared similarities, and Howard does everything in his power to reject those same characteristics from taking a hold of his son.

Yet the more time Tony grows, the more Howard notices the similarities between his son and the _other_ Howard. The resemblance is frighteningly uncanny; the bone structure alone is indistinguishable from the other, too much so to be a mere coincidence.

At his core, Howard is fundamentally a scientist, and there are no coincidences in science.

So, he does what any other self-respecting scientist would do in this unique situation: approach the problem logically.

1\. Howard Potts had to be in his fifties and, unless augmented reality had undergone a drastic renovation in recent years, Tony was nowhere near that age.

2\. Potts was an alumni of MIT, much like his own son would be when he graduates in a couple weeks. A quick hacking job told him that there was no one by that name registered in the system. Hm. Peculiar.

3\. Potts has a daughter. Somewhere out there in the world is a little girl with Howard Potts dark hair, and kind brown eyes. Howard searches every database in America, trying to find the daughter, if only for his sanity, yet even that is a dead end. The only Potts his technology is able to conjure is a strawberry blonde young woman named Virginia, who possesses none of the qualities of Howard Potts. If she is in fact related to him, it is in name only, and even that is an uncertainty.

None of that eases the knot in Howard's chest.

So, yes. Tony bears an alarming resemblance to Mr. Potts and, for once in his life, the science fails him. His mind cannot work with the technological downfalls of his generation, so he draws several blanks.

With a snarl, he rips the papers from his desk in one fell swoop, his chair clattering to the ground; crumpled, and failing.

Now, because Howard Stark is so very smart, he realises he can't put a lot of stock in his idealised recounting – the human brain was subjective at the best of times, and for a specific memory like this that occurred years in the past, it would be only natural for him to have glamorised a least some aspects. Memory is not an infallible concept, regardless of his own eidetic memory, and his mind is not as quick as a supercomputer, and is prone to bouts of uncertainty.

~

The answer is glaringly obvious, the logistics alone... in this lifetime, it is improbable. He is limited by the technology of his time.

But in Tony’s epoch – now that might just be crazy enough to be true.

~

When Tony arrives home for the weekend after partying too hard at god knows where, it is to casually (_too casually_, a voice that sounds like Potts condemns) inform them of his impending MIT graduation.

Maria is unable to attend, running interface for some petty Stark Industries cocktail event Howard was supposed to orchestrate but never gave a rat's ass about.

Then Tony asks him.

His knee-jerk reaction is to refuse.

So he does.

Shame burns in him when his son doesn't even muster the disappointment in his father's choice – like Tony expects this, hasn't allowed himself the possibility that Howard would be there for him – and that feeling intensifies when Tony looks up, and Howard Potts' dark brown eyes stare back at him.

Maybe that is why Howard reconsiders his stance, rents some godawful common's man vehicle (the kind that would have seemed incredible to the working-class kid he used to be) and sneaks into the MIT lecture hall on the day in question.

_No amount of money_, he finds himself thinking, unbidden, the words ripping out of him, _ever bought a second of time_.

It's strange, he muses, he never understood those cryptic words Potts gifted him, but sitting here in the back hall of his son's college graduation, something like warm understanding sinks into him.

It is odd, uncomfortable and awkward – and Howard is only too aware of just how much he sticks out, even with his poor attempt at disguise. Part of his internal dialogue rants at him to drop all pretence; to just turn sharply on his heel and frog-march out of there, maybe feign a quick phone call and prepare a paper-thin excuse for Maria and Tony later.

Howard isn't actively thinking of ol' Mr. Potts, but his face flickers before his vision, just for a moment, and it cracks like lightning.

So he stays.

It is every bit as frivolous and demeaning as Howard anticipated it to be. Halfway through the valedictorian speech, a gaggle of young men situated to his left loudly proclaim to the hall, _holy shit, it's Mr. Stark_, and Howard has to grin and bear the ensuing fallout as a result of the revelation.

(It hurts somewhere soft when, instead of joining the commotion, Tony refuses to turn around to check, as though resigned to the notion that his father was most assuredly absent on one of the most important days in his life. That is, until, Tony's friend – whom Howard struggles to recall is affectionately nicknamed Rhodey – nudges him, and Tony begrudgingly gives in.)

In the end, Howard hates every second of it. But for the look on his son's face? Makes the whole ordeal worth it.

Howard leaves after he sees Tony collect his degree – he is a busy man, and he knows better than to hang around and bug his son. But he leaves content in the knowledge that he went; for Tony.

For Howard Potts.

For his son.


End file.
